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Symptoms of Porn Addiction: Do You Have Porn “Withdrawal” Symptoms?

I remember when I was buried deep in porn addiction: it seemed each day was a fight to avoid the inevitable. At the time I didn’t understand why my body would seem to take control. There were so many nights I would walk zombie-like to Internet porn or phone sex in search of my fix. And when I would white-knuckle it, the withdrawal symptoms would kick in.

Have you ever experienced a symptom of porn addiction when trying to avoid porn?Linda L. Simmons, Psy.D., says this is simply a part of the addictive cycle, “When pornography is stopped, withdrawal symptoms will likely be experienced—irritability, anxiety, frustration, and so forth.”

Marnia Robinson, author of Cupid’s Poisoned Arrow, collected the testimonies from many men about this. She recently reported this on the Huffington Post:

“The whole day I have been shaking with jitters similar to how it felt when I quit smoking.”

“. . . I didn’t recognize I had an addiction until I had surgery and masturbation wasn’t an option for fifteen days. On day three, I was literally shaking, and I began to connect the dots. Other symptoms: irritability, inability to focus (‘staring at walls syndrome’), mood swings, headaches (sometimes quite strong), sense of pressure in my genitals, flashbacks, paranoia, self-defeating thinking, depression, hopelessness, and fear that I will never have sex because I’ve learned no social skills since diving into porn eight years ago as a teen.”

“No matter how many orgasms I have, I never feel satisfied; I just finally collapse in exhaustion, and start again the next day.”

“I’m more anxious or depressed, and I have a strong desire to avoid other people.”

The Porn Circuit

Science shows us why porn is highly addictive. Learn how
our neurochemistry is easily hijacked by porn to create
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brain can be rewired to escape porn's allure.

27 thoughts on “Symptoms of Porn Addiction: Do You Have Porn “Withdrawal” Symptoms?”

Yes, all the time but the thing is I am a Overcomer by the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony which God gave me! all Men have problems with Lust but you must discipline your flesh into submission. your are not a slave to sin and a servant to God

I feel extremely angry at the world and I feel like I hate almost everyone (except for my parents, girlfriend and friends).
Another very predominant symptom is fatigue. The constant stress from being around people causes me to feel physically exhausted. I don’t feel any depression or anxiety. I just feel numb generally every day, if you take away extreme anger and stress.

I clearly have some kind of repressed emotions surfacing every time I stop avoiding them with porn, I just don’t know where it’s coming from or how to heal. Some days I want to take my car into the garage, turn it on, go to sleep and never wake up, just so I don’t have to deal with anger and stress any more because it’s unbearable.

Anyway that was some pretty intense negative stuff right there but it’s the truth and I deal with this almost 24 hours every day, for the past few years.

I don’t know what to do, if someone can help me, I’d appreciate. I’ve forgotten how to love. I don’t let anyone in..

Hey Collin. Thank you for being so honest. Even though these emotions are so painful and difficult, I think it’s good that you can recognize them so well in yourself. Being able to observe your own emotions from a fairly objective standpoint, like you are able to do here, is very, very helpful. It’s actually a giant step forward from acting out of emotions without recognizing what you’re doing. Also, I see you being able to take responsibility for your emotions here as well: you can see that you’re angry with the outside world in a way that’s probably not reasonable. That is also a huge step forward from throwing blame around at everybody else. So, even though this is tough and you do have those feelings of just wanting it to be over–I think you’re making more progress than perhaps you realize.

I want to encourage you to keep pressing on. Yes, this is hard. Yes, it’s confusing and frustrating some days. But you ARE making progress, even if you’re not able to experience the emotions of that progress just yet. Emotions always come last when you’re working through something like this, so keep working and don’t give up. The more you pay attention to your emotions, name them, and take responsibility for them, the less overwhelming they’ll become.

If you aren’t in counseling, please do find a therapist for yourself immediately! You’re in such a great place, with good work under your belt already, to make good progress with a counselor who can help you put words to your experience, and help you process through whatever is under there still. I’d recommend a CSAT (Certified Sex Addiction Therapist). The directory for that is here. I’d also recommend going to a group like SAA, where you can team up with others who’ve had success in recovery. There are online groups at xxxChurch as well.

With the good work you’ve done already, this is completely treatable! Don’t give up! There are great resources to provide you with support over the next part of the journey.

I’ve decided to quit porn about 3 years ago (I’m almost 24 now) and I’ve got to say the worst symptoms (emotions) I experience is social anxiety, anger and rage.

I feel angry almost all the time and I HATE it, I wish there was something I could do. Without porn I feel very very on edge and defensive and even aggressive at times, with strangers and my family. There’s only a few people who for some reason I just feel too much of a connection with to feel angry with (so far lol).

I really need help with anger and rage, it’s unbearable at times because I often have the urge to punch and destroy the things around me (except for people, never touched anyone in my life and I hope I never do).

First of all, I want to say that it’s really great that you’re able to recognize and take responsibility for your own emotions. Owning your own stuff is enormously important when it comes to healing and dealing with it.

I’m wondering if you’ve had any counseling, or if you’ve done any group work, like joining Celebrate Recovery? Those experiences can help you process underlying emotions in healthy ways.

I’m also wondering if you are getting enough exercise? As your brain recovers, it’s important that you give it all the help you can with a healthy physical body. A number of my clients who deal with anxiety are absolutely sold on exercise as the best way to manage anxiety–even when they’re taking medication. And how are you sleeping? Your brain really needs that deep REM sleep in order to be healthy. If you’re struggling in either of those areas–exercise or sleep–you might want to visit your doctor and see what he suggests for getting your body working with your brain toward recovery.

Here’s a very basic article on anger management. You may have already tried these things, but there may be some new ideas here for you as well.

I’m having very vivid dreams and weird night mares now too myself. I have no social skills with women what so ever. I don’t get women, I don’t understand how to sway them into falling in love with me. I’m stuck getting dead end jobs. I feel depressed when I don’t watch porn, and now it’s gotten to the point I don’t need to masterbate to ejaculate. I swear now to never watch porn again.

I would like if you would also talk more about the girls affected by pornography addiction, because girls have this problem, too. It’s a little hard to relate when you only speak like guys are affected by this problem.

@Alex – We have a whole category about this topic, if you are interested. We actually dedicated a week to the topic back in August this year. Please click on “Women and Porn Addiction” and receive more information.

Amen to that. my addition started three days ago, you won’t believe we I told myself this is getting too much and I need to stop I never slept a wink last night. I had night mares, I could not close my eyes. but I spoke to my saviour and I know this too shall pass. God bless

Interesting discussion. I find that most of the men I work with don’t have significant withdrawal symptoms. When we really get at what is driving the cravings, and remove the cravings, then the withdrawal symptoms don’t seem to come up.

Luke, Any suggestions for how to curb the temptation to access porn on a work computer that won’t accept the CE software? I can’t do much with the computer because it is the company’s computer and I can’t remove a firewall if they have it up.

thats so true, watching porn and seeing the huge penis’s makes me feel inadequate as a man and keeps me avoiding women and fearful of getting into a relationship to find out she only wants to leave me for a man with a bigger penis

Yes, many of the symptoms I have experienced. Even if I gone for a time without porn and go back to it, the cycle repeats. I have been in denial for a long time and had heard and read about how addictive it is and still was not totally aware of how it effected me. I would blame it on other things. I am sure other health problems contribute but the symptoms of the addiction are there. I think after a few months or so of not viewing it the desire or addition will decrease. I am not sure the time frame. I believe it is something I am committed to staying away from now. Of course, time will tell and actions speak louder than words.

Question: Does The Withdrawals ever stop? Irritability, Nausea, & Low Energy occurs at times, but by the Grace of The Lord been making Great Progress ever! (To those in the struggle study the new covenant focusing on His Complete Forgiveness n Righteousness really brought a change also check out Joseph Prince)

I’m a 33 years old virgin who has been addicted to porn ever since I was a teen. I started trying to rid myself of my addiction 4 months ago and I keep relapsing every 2-3 weeks.

I had no idea I had an addiction until very recently actually. It’s not like I had any basis for comparison. It’s just something I’ve been doing my entire life, I just figured if I can’t get a girlfriend why not get my pleasure elsewhere. Now that I think about it, it’s probably the reason I was never motivated for getting one in the first place.

My main problems with quitting porn are that I get incredibly irritable and I have a ton of self defeating thoughts. I’m on my 4th day after my last relapse and I went to the grocery store today and I seriously wanted to punch every who got into my bubble. Having never had sex in my life and not knowing how to get any for that matter means I’m not just stopping masturbating and watching porn, It means I’m not gonna have an other orgasm in my entire life… At least that’s the way I’m seeing it, hence the reason I’m having so many self defeating thoughts.

I’ve been working on my social/dating skills in the past year (with little success…) and what seems to get my dopamine levels up a bit is when I go up to girls and start talking/flirting with them. I’m the biggest introvert on the planet and I don’t get out much so I’m lucky if it happens once a week really.

Hello, first, I’m sorry for the slow response. Have you sought counseling for finding ways to handle your thoughts that seem to pull you down the self-defeating path? There seems to be a pattern of thinking that could be addressed, but that’s not easy at all, especially on your own. The way I see it, “self” is what led me to many of my problems, and so the notion of “self-help” really is a lie. It wasn’t until I invited both Christ and Community (a group of like-minded, Jesus-loving men) into my life. Into all of the messy, weird, hard, places. Life doesn’t end without orgasm. But, if your mind has been trained through repeatedly thinking that way, then that’s what you’ll believe. Find help! That’s my encouragement for you.